A Smart Conversion App That Shows You How Units Relate

The Converted, $3 for iPhone, is a conversion app that values context over precision. Image: The Converted

Thanks to Google’s all-knowing computer brain, converting units has never been easier. Say you’re in France, trying to make sense of the weather report. Just type “11.5 degrees Celsius in Fahrenheit” in your browser’s search bar–or, hell, just bark it into your phone–and there you have it: 52.7 degrees F. Sweater weather. Got it.

But with Google’s super-precise, instantly regurgitated conversions, you only get that single data point. The service doesn’t offer any broader sense of how units relate–the midday high of 23.8 degrees C remains a mystery. In other words, with conversions, sometimes context can be helpful. Which is why there might be room on your phone for a conversion app like this one.

The Converted, available for the iPhone for $3, manages to be idiosyncratic in one of the more crowded App Store categories. It’s a visual conversion app that privileges context over precision. Instead of punching in exact values to convert, you pick your units, swipe and pinch your way until you’re in the ballpark, and see where you come out on the other side. The developer, Hans Petter Eikemo, says it was inspired by a measuring cup. It’s quick, at-a-glance conversion, for everything from imperial pints and metric tons to rupees and nautical miles.

There’s a learning curve involved, the dev admits, but it’s a necessary one. Image: The ConvertedIf you need to figure out how much you weigh in kilograms, or if you want to know how much a new pair of shoes is going to set you back in U.S. dollars, how is the Converted possibly better than the familiar alternatives?

“It isn’t,” Eikemo says. “For conversions requiring a very high level of precision, the old model is probably better.”But if you’re traveling and you find yourself converting over and over to get a sense of how much you’re really spending, the measuring-cup style converter could prove a huge time saver. Plus, it will never need a data connection.

Powered by a series of swipes and pinches, and reliant on myriad menus and bookmarks, it can be frustratingly clunky to navigate at first. Eikemo doesn’t disagree. “It does have a steep learning curve,” he admits. “If not by design, then undeniably as a consequence of certain principles.” But he found that any concession for the first-time user compromised the experience for someone who’d gotten used to the system.

“So what we have is something great for people who have gotten around to using it for a couple of minutes,” he says. Typing a conversion query into Google will always be the easier way to an answer–and likely a faster way, too. But in some cases, actually seeing that conversion and getting a sense of how the units relate could save you plenty of thoughtless converting down the line.